In the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, there is a little, sweet shop that’s making its point—it’s good! Cupcakes, cakes, cookies and more have people craving Southern Girl Desserts (SGD). Established in 2005, SGD was originally located on Pico and Fairfax, where it enjoyed sweet success. They have also been featured on Food Networks’ Cupcake Wars.

Catarah Hampshire and Shoneji Robison are the co-owners of SGD and are just as sweet as the desserts they offer. Hampshire is originally from Green Cove Springs, Florida, and moved to Los Angeles in 2005. Robison is a native of Sarasota, Florida, and has been living in Los Angeles since 2000.

Both women received their education in Tallahassee, Florida, where their union began.

“We met because we have friends…who we both knew but we didn’t know each other,” said Hampshire. “

“We had mutual friends,” said Robison.

Hampshire and Robison were cooks and had baked desserts for friends and family. They both had an idea to start a business and it wasn’t long before they would be brought together.

Utilizing her PR background, Hampshire a built a small clientele with her business at the time. Together with Robison, they built something that would become a tasty dream come true.

Robison admitted the idea of sharing her recipes was tough at first, but she eventually saw the risk was worth it.

“She did not want to share nothing,” Hampshire said laughingly.

“We have a combination of desserts we got from our family members and with time, we’ve created our own desserts too.”

Some of those creations include double chocolate and red velvet cupcakes, cakes, wedding cakes, cookies, banana pudding and cobblers. Also on the list of treats is the rare, unique and exceptional sweet potato cupcake.

“We were the first to bring that to Southern California,” said Hampshire about the Sweet Potato Cupcake.

One of their latest and unique combinations is there Hennessy & Coke (H&C) cupcake.

“I wouldn’t suggest you drive,” said Hampshire jokingly about the H&C cupcake, which sounds like a lot of fun (in a good way).

“We do desserts,” said both ladies and that they do. Hampshire and Robison share an obvious, sister-like friendship that is absorbed into their recipes. Southern Girl Desserts is sweet because it comes from the hearts of two ladies who love what they do.

Southern Girl Desserts is located inside the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on the first Floor near Sears. For more information, you may call (323) 293-2253 or visit www.southerngirldesserts.com.